


Beautiful Disaster

by SleepyEye



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: But bear with me here, F/M, In this one Cormoran is actually good at emotions, Love, Matthew is a jerk, they're in love, which is a bit out of character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 14:08:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22257487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyEye/pseuds/SleepyEye
Summary: Prompt:Beautiful DisasterI know I'm going to keep of picking at this one for the next month unless I submit it now (1/14) so I'm just throwing it in with wild abandon.
Relationships: Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 9
Kudos: 39
Collections: Love Letters: A Cormoran Strike Valentine's Day Fest





	Beautiful Disaster

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [StrikeLoveLetters](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/StrikeLoveLetters) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Beautiful Disaster
> 
> I know I'm going to keep of picking at this one for the next month unless I submit it now (1/14) so I'm just throwing it in with wild abandon.

_Beautiful disaster._ That’s what Matthew used to call her. She’d heard it as a compliment at first, focusing on the word  _ beautiful _ . His calling her a disaster didn’t seem like an insult as much as a statement of fact. He’d see her in the morning, makeup smudged and hair a hopeless tangle, and he’d beam and say, “God Robin, you are such a beautiful disaster.” When she was working on the car, grease smudged across her forehead. When she mopped the kitchen and ended up spilling the bucket of water all the way across the floor. Then he started saying it other times. He would say it after dinner parties, and double dates. He said it after sex. It became almost a pet name. And Robin had gritted her teeth in some pathetic imitation of a smile and stayed silent. 

She now knew that Matthew was an asshole. That was just a statement of fact. She knew that he was a liar, and most days she was able to convince herself that she was not, in fact, a disaster. Most days she was a perfectly competent adult.

Not today, though. Today was, by every account, a disaster.

Everything had gone wrong today. She had tried so hard to make it perfect, but it was as if the universe had conspired against her. Ned was out of town for the weekend, so Robin had invited Cormoran to spend the night at her place. This was a first: she had stayed over at his flat a few times, in a hurried I-need-you-now sort of way, but never the other way around, and never predetermined. This was a new step. This had been planned. Have dinner, stay the night. It was a new level of official. 

Robin had planned a _ boeuf bourguignon _ a la Julia Child, the dish her mother swore could get any man. Her mother had made the dish on her first date with Michael Ellacott, and it had certainly worked out well for them.

Not so well for Robin. The carrots were mushy, the beef like leather, the onion had burned to the bottom of the pan and filled the flat with billowing smoke. She hadn’t had time to clean the house. Her dress was stained with sauce, her hair frizzy, she was sweating like a pig. Everything was a mess. She blinked tears out of her eyes.  _ A disaster.  _ She had put so much time and effort into the meal, not to mention money. She had wanted Cormoran to be impressed. She had wanted to appear together, competent, sexy. But here she was, in a smoke-filled house, crying over burnt beef.

The doorbell rang just as she was scraping the destroyed _bourguignon_ into the trash. She groaned. Cormoran, ever punctual. She rushed to the door, trying to straighten her hair as she ran. She opened it a crack and peered out. There was Cormoran, looking shy and lovely, even carrying a bottle of wine. Robin wanted to curl up and die.

“Hello,” Cormoran said. 

“I… You can’t come in.”

Cormoran’s eyebrows lowered in concern. He could smell smoke, and he noticed that Robin had been crying.

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m- I’m a mess. I burned the dinner. It’s a wreck.”

“Robin, we’ve both seen each other at our worst. I’m pretty sure that we can handle a burnt meal.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Robin opened the door and let him in.

“That was different,” she said, “We weren’t… this.”

Cormoran looked around the room. She really had done a number on the dinner. Even with all the windows open, the smoke was dense.

“You mean because we’ve seen each other naked?” Cormoran said with a grin, “Pretty sure that’s only points in your favor here.”

“Shut up. You know you’re magnificent.” Now Robin was smiling too.

“What I lack in aesthetics I make up for in enthusiasm,” he admitted. 

“Believe me, the aesthetics are just fine.”

Robin sat heavily on the sofa, and Cormoran sat beside her.

“I suppose we should order in,” she said with a sigh, “Thai sound good?”

“Thai sounds excellent.”

“You want your usual?”

“Why mess with a classic?”

Robin made the phone call and Cormoran beamed as she got his order perfect from memory. She hung up the phone and looked down at her hands.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. 

“Sorry? What for?”

Robin shrugged.

“I wanted to make tonight special. You know, candlelight, romance. It’s silly, but… You know. I wanted it to be good.”

Cormoran grabbed her hand. 

“Robin.” He lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. “Everything you do is good.”

Robin snorted.

“I mean it,” he insisted, “Everything about you is special, and wonderful, and beautiful, and kind. And I know that nobody is perfect, but God, I adore your imperfections.”

“I’m not fishing, you know,” Robin said, “You don’t have to compliment me.”

“Dammit, Robin!” Cormoran threw his hands up, but he was grinning. “Just let me tell you how amazing you are!” He rested his forehead on hers and breathed deep. “God knows I don’t do it enough.”

Robin smiled and bit her lip.

“Alright,” she whispered.

“Robin Venetia Ellacott,” Cormoran said, voice hoarse, “I adore you.” His hand curled around the back of her neck. “You’re like… Do you know how in the movie Wizard of Oz, it starts out in sepia, and then as soon as she gets to Oz it turns into color?”

Robin nodded, unable to trust her voice. 

“That’s you,” Cormoran said, “You took my life from Kansas to Oz.” 

Robin let out a damp giggle. 

“I love that movie,” she said, “I haven’t seen it in ages.”

“Ten pounds says that Ned has it on DVD.”

Ned did indeed have the Wizard of Oz. he also had  _ Return to Oz _ ,  _ The Wiz,  _ and, to Robin’s horror, a pornographic spin-off called “ _ Not the Wizard of Oz XXX _ ”.

“At least they had the decency to put NOT THE WIZARD OF OZ on the cover,” Robin said. 

“Who keeps porn right out there on their DVD shelf?”

“Who still watches porn on DVD?”

They ate their Thai food on the sofa and watched the Wizard of Oz, providing commentary when it arose. Cormoran watched Robin as she watched the movie. She was like a kid, completely caught up in it, wide-eyed and beaming. Her legs were lying across Cormorans lap, and she was wrapped in a blanket. She couldn’t stop laughing at the Tin Man’s song, her eyes crinkled up, her head thrown back. 

“I loved Glinda when I was a kid,” Robin said. 

“Really? Even after the whole business of  _ ‘you’ve had the power to go home the whole time but I didn’t tell you’ _ ?”

“Ah, yes, but she has such a wonderful dress. And she can transform into a soap bubble.”

“And she looks like your mum.”

“She does not--” A look of astonishment passed over Robin’s face. “Oh God she does.”

“I love you.”

The words slipped out of his mouth without him even realizing it. It was as if he’d been possessed. He barely even registered that he’d said it out loud until he saw the look of astonishment on Robin’s face.

“What?” she asked.

“I… did I just say that?”

“I think so. But I’m not going to believe it until you say it again.”

“Is that something… you’d want to hear?” Cormoran asked, “It’s not too much? Or too soon? I’ve never- or at least not in years--”

Robin took his hand, a slow smile blooming across her face..

“I love you,” she said. 

“I love you,” Cormoran repeated, “I am in love with you.”

He had always thought that when he said those words again it would be awkward, painful, an effort. But here it was, so simple. 

Everything was just right. 


End file.
